1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate in general to telephony, and an apparatus and method to reject a call in a manner that the caller does not recognize as a block.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional telephone network, users are able to subscribe to a Class 5 Call Blocking feature that allows them to maintain a list of callers that are unable to place a call through to the subscriber. Upon attempting to call the subscriber, a blocked caller is notified by a recording that their call has been rejected. The subscriber's telephone does not ring. The caller is thus aware that the subscriber is blocking them.
Similarly, in a mode of Internet telephony implementing the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), users are able to subscribe to a comparable call blocking feature. In this case, call attempts made by blocked callers are met with a SIP 603 Decline response, which ends the call session. As with the Class 5 Call Blocking feature, blocked callers are thus aware that the subscriber is blocking them.
Outgoing calls are also subject to being blocked. Subscribers may choose to control outgoing calls by blocking certain telephone numbers, sets of numbers, or all numbers. Callers that attempt to make outgoing blocked calls on the subscriber's telephone are generally met with a request for authorization to complete the call or an error message. Once again, these callers become aware that they are being blocked.
Also known in the art is a “do not disturb” feature for telephones. When active this feature generally diverts all incoming calls immediately to voicemail, a recording, or an error message. A caller subjected to this feature may still easily recognize that their call has been rejected.